Ex-Nepal king on comeback trail?
KATHMANDU: Defying a demand by the Maoists to cancel his public programme in eastern Nepal on Saturday, deposed king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah reached Biratnagar, the home town of pro-democracy leader Girija Prasad Koirala, to inaugurate a religious festival amidst tight security and calls by royalists for the restoration of monarchy.
The 63-year-old's visit to the industrial town on the border with India to inaugurate the Ganapati Chaturthi festival in honour of the elephant-headed god of success had become controversial after the local Maoist cadres opposed his participation and the Maoist mouthpiece Janadisha daily reported earlier during the week that it had been called off.
Though the once all-powerful king became a commoner in 2008 and today, claims his right to attend all the public programmes he wants to, the sudden spurt in these attendances has caused his former archenemy, the Maoists, wariness. Less than a week earlier, on Monday, Gyanendra had inaugurated a Saptarisheshwar Mahadev temple in Futung. Since March, when he attended a mahayajna on the Pashupatinath temple grounds calling for the reinstatement of a Hindu state in Nepal, the last king of Nepal has been especially heading for towns in the southern plains, a region once neglected by his dynasty for generations but now turning out to be the staunchest bastion of Hinduism.
Not just the former king, even his son Paras, who was a target of public dislike during his days as a prince and crown prince, has also begun foraying in the Terai plains, inaugurating a temple, a school and even a community eye hospital. Call it a coincidence or part of the new strategy, even Paras' wife, the former crown princess Himani, last month inaugurated a drinking water project in Dolakha in northern Nepal.
The frequency of these programmes is now worrying the Maoists, cornered by the failure of their chief, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, to win the prime ministerial race seven times in a row. Last month, the local Maoist cadre tried to disrupt Himani's programme, calling it a ploy to campaign for the restoration of monarchy.
Four years after his attempt to rule the country directly with the help of the army misfired, people have begun to forget the atrocities committed by the royal regime, thanks to the failure of the deposed king's successors. The political parties' inability to put selfish interests before national ones and give people good governance has alienated them while the recurring failure to elect a new prime minister has made them the butt of ridicule.
Though the parties had pledged to promulgate a new constitution in May, they failed to keep their commitment and plunged the country into an unprecedented crisis. While the crisis was averted for a year with parliament giving them another 12 months to accomplish the deed, more than four months have elapsed since then with the task of constitution-drafting coming to a standstill. The failure to deliver a new constitution in May 2011 will bolster royalists, who are already calling for a referendum to decide if monarchy should be given a second chance.
who makes up such things 
